caulfield12

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/20/us/colorado-....html?hpt=hp_t1 They've revised the death toll (for now) down from 14-15 to 12. 38 injured. Columbine was on April 20th (1999), this one was July 20th. Of course, that one involved two shooters, who ended up dead, and they had 17 total victims if I remember correctly. If you remember your 90's history, there were those three events, the Branch Davidian/David Koresh/Waco fire (April 19, 1993), the Oklahoma City bombing by McVeigh (April 19th, 1995)...and then Columbine four years later. I'm guessing there's probably more connection with the Batman premiere and Bane than anything to do with Columbine, though. Apparently the shooter was 24 years old and his car had Tennessee plates. Had an apartment there in Aurora.

QUOTE (PorkChopExpress @ Jul 19, 2012 -> 02:31 PM) He's like Sampson, only instead of his strength being in his hair, it was in his fat. That's like Ralph, the basketball player. Samson

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jul 20, 2012 -> 06:04 AM) I haven't seen a loss like last night in a while. Robin has done a great job with this team, but he made some really bad decisions last night. First, why didn't Youkilis pinch hit for Escobar? Lefty-righty s*** be damned, Youk was the much better option there. And why oh why did Thornton start that inning? If he wanted a lefty to face Crawford, let Quintana pitch to him. I could hear the diasappointment in Hawk's voice from the beginning of the inning. He knew it was a bad decision, too. Oh well. I hope that loss doesn't start a downward spiral going into Detroit. 2 of 3 is almost a must this weekend. As long as we don't get swept. That's the only disaster in the making. The Tigers have every bit of positive momentum in the world behind them and they're going to have 3 standing room only crowds. At any rate, you can't back into the playoffs, or even a Wild Card spot. If we had played .500 against Boston this season (and the bullpen gave away two games in this series, we were only outplayed in the Hernandez start), we'd be 52-40 and they would be 6 1/2 games behind us, not JUST 2 1/2 with Ortiz the only one they're waiting for in the regular line-up to return. Youkilis must have been really hurt worse than we were led to believe (see Danks and hopefully we'll get positive word on Floyd today) if he wasn't available to pinch hit for Escobar in the 9th. If Ross just slightly tipped that ball a different direction, it doesn't bounce into the stands, Viciedo scores, the lead in the bottom of the 9th is 2-0 and you can breathe a little easier to start the inning.

Guess one of them was a baby. Don't know why you bring a baby to a midnight premiere... The first thing I thought of was Columbine when I heard it was in Denver. Two mass shootings now. http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/20/us/colorado-....html?hpt=hp_t1 14 dead, 50 wounded as of 641 a.m.

QUOTE (Wanne @ Jul 20, 2012 -> 01:00 AM) I just wonder what ever happened to the time-honored tradition of never taking a guy out pitching a shutout? Get's old... According to Elias, Quintana (2.30 ERA) is the first pitcher since 1900 to have three scoreless outings of eight innings with a no-decision. Probably the reason this has never happened before for 112 years. A lot more rare than a perfect game, what has transpired with Quintana in only 10 big league starts.

Evoking memories of Quintana’s eight scoreless innings that went down the tubes against the Dodgers in Los Angeles on June 17, manager Robin Ventura went to his bullpen with another 1-0 lead only to watch his pen fail. That time, general manager Ken Williams questioned the move. Ventura stuck to his guns and to his bullpen this time, calling on lefty Matt Thornton with lefties Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez batting first and third in the ninth. They sandwiched singles around what could’ve been a double-play ball to rookie third baseman Eduardo Escobar but was only a force at second because of a low throw to Gordon Beckham. After Gonzalez’s single, Reed entered to face Ross. “It was supposed to be a fastball away, and it sailed over the plate, and he got a good piece on it,” Reed said. “It’s unfortunate. [Quintana] threw his butt off, and there’s nothing else he could have done. He did everything. It sucks that we didn’t come out with a win.” Ventura considered staying with Quintana, a lefty, to face Crawford to start the inning, but Quintana had to extend himself in the seventh and eighth innings. “You can go back out there with him, but you are eventually going to go to those [bullpen] guys anyway if he gets in trouble,’’ Ventura said. “So you go to the guys who are fresh.’’ The Dodgers game did cross Ventura’s mind. “Yeah, it is similar,’’ he said. “But he did his job, and he got out of some tough spots. So that’s my call: to take him out and bring somebody else in.’’ According to Elias, Quintana (2.30 ERA) is the first pitcher since 1900 to have three scoreless outings of eight innings with a no-decision. He had no objection to the move. “That’s the manager’s choice,’’ he said. “It’s one of those that this is going to happen. It won’t be the first or the last time.’’ Daryl Van Schouwen www.suntimes.com/sports

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/p...nded/order/true White Sox now have 15 blown saves. 3 ahead of any team in the AL. We're making the Boston bullpen look good, actually...at least in recent weeks. We have enough offense, even though it's inconsistent. But teams just can't survive so many blown saves that turn into losses about 75% of the time. It just eats the heart right out of your starters and eventually infects the whole team. We saw it to start 2011...it's happening again.

Trading Viciedo is idiotic and it doesn't matter how many rental players names are come up with, they will all be stupid. The only ones that make ANY sense are Garza, Hamels and Greinke, and it will be another decade or more before JR agrees to shell out $20-30 million per season on a contract for a pitcher lasting 5 years or longer. So that nullifies all but Garza. But it's the same thing we went through with Hudson for Jackson, 1 1/2 seasons (actually, it was just one because they had to deal him to eat Teahen's ill-advised contract)...trading Viciedo for Garza, then watching him put up 30-40 homers per year along with Rizzo, no thanks. Danks was a mistake. They're not going to compound it by doubling down.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 19, 2012 -> 09:20 PM) AL Central isn't out of the question, and tonight's outcome is no reason to lose hope yet. I do agree that giving up anything from the Major League roster for a rental would be a bad decision. If Scherzer, Berry, Young and Boesch keep playing as well as they have been recently, the Tigers just have the overwhelming talent advantage because we can't survive with a powerless .234 hitting Paul Konerko and a .200-ish Dunn against Fielder and Cabrera. You know the Tigers are going to make at least one of two moves. Another starter and a 2B, probably Omar Infante.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 19, 2012 -> 09:24 PM) Excellent point. Eskie must go in that scenario. Hudson can only play 2B. That's his problem. And he's not an especially effective pinch-runner either, no better than Danks or Escobar there at this point in his career.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 19, 2012 -> 09:18 PM) Escobar doesn't need to be cut, for f***'s sake he had a bad 9th inning let it rest. I'm very interested in the decision to use Thornton because it makes me think that Reed may have a sore arm going or something. Couldn't have thrown Q out there, he had been skating on thin ice for two innings. Anyone hear the post game interviews yet? I'm out of market and I don't get that stuff. More run scoring would have been nice. The thing with this team this year hasn't been that we haven't had bad losses, bad series -- it's that they've been isolated incidents. We may not dominate this weekend, but I can't expect this team to play bad ball. Let's go boys! Quintana barely had 100 pitches and had made Crawford look bad all game long. The only debate was starting Reed in the 9th or letting Quintana get Crawford out, then going to Reed. Anyone following the White Sox since August of 2009 knows that Matt Thornton is a disaster in those situation. Something always goes wrong, defense behind him, giving up 2 hits in 2 at-bats to lefties, he just doesn't have the cojones that Quintana, a rookie, has exhibited all season long. If Reed's not healthy, then why would you even bring him in for Ross/Middlebrooks? This loss is 50% Ventura, 25% the offense, 25% Escobar/Thornton/Reed. Reed made an absolutely horrible/terrible pitch there. But, he's a rookie. The chickens are starting to come home to roost in this series with all the rookies. Septimo the other night, Reed and Escobar spoiling things tonight.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 19, 2012 -> 09:13 PM) Kudos to Quintana for absolutely dominating some of the best offenses in baseball. He's a keeper. Quintana has been nothing short of amazing. But there's no way in hell I'm trading Viciedo for a quick fix just to get a Wild Card when the entire bullpen is in total disarray. There's just too much to fix there. They don't have a single reliable LH reliever and Jones has been terrible recently. Crain, when healthy, hasn't been as good as 2011. The other problem is that the league has seemingly figured DeAza out (destroy him with offspeed stuff), Dunn's slumping and closing in on .200 and Konerko doesn't have the ability to "turn and burn" as Hawk says. Just way too many holes right now to gamble the future on one more starting pitcher.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Jul 19, 2012 -> 09:11 PM) Surprised no one mentions that Edwardo Escobar, does not make a routine double play, if he can't do that, what exactly is he doing on this team? He had two good at-bats in that game, but that's what happens when you're not playing your natural position (SS) for the first season of your career. Rookies aren't made for pennant races. And we have too many of them. The only one who has manned up all season long is Quintana. And we just can't get any bounces to go our way. Beckham's ball should have stayed in the park and been a double or triple, and they would have started that inning with at least a 2-0 lead.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Jul 19, 2012 -> 09:07 PM) with the pen, its not like we have great arms that are struggling,theyre just not that goos Matt Thornton has been bad in any important situation for two years now, since the Thome walk-off grand slam. He's just not reliable when you really need him. I guarantee if he faces Fielder in Detroit he'll give up a huge hit, probably a homer.

How many thought that Thornton was actually going to do something good there? I wonder if it was Cooper's call. If so, it was idiotic. 2-6 against the team we'll probably end up fighting for the last wild card spot. Escobar didn't help. BUT SOMETHING BAD ALWAYS HAPPENS WHEN THORNTON IS IN FOR THE 9TH. It's inevitable. I will be happy when they buy out his contract and send him packing. He just doesn't have a secondary pitch to get a batter out when he needs it. Gonzalez was down 0-2, of course, he throws him a hittable FB out over the plate. There was nothing surprising at all about the way that inning unfolded. Ventura picks the 3rd best option there. Either Quintana or Reed, either one, would have been better. Seriously, Ozzie Guillen was better at managing bullpens than Ventura has been the last couple of weeks. Yes, he doesn't have many reliable options, but that wasn't a bullpen question for the 6th/7th/8th. That was do you stay with Quintana for Crawford (who he'd retired easily all game long) or bring in Reed to start the inning? No other debate there to have.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 19, 2012 -> 04:36 PM) You've gotta be trollin' me. I think it's a back-handed slap at our two great acquisitions (for the priceless right for the Marlins to negotiate with Ozzie) by KW. Who knows? He only pitched one time. He looked to have a live arm, questionable control and suspect breaking stuff. Kind of like half our bullpen from game to game.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 19, 2012 -> 04:06 PM) So what about Barnum Coming back: First baseman Keon Barnum, the Sox's second pick in the June amateur draft, is expected to resume playing for Advanced Rookie-Bristol this week. Barnum, who batted .421 with three home runs and seven RBIs in five games, is recovering from a sore left shoulder.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jul 19, 2012 -> 04:16 PM) The way Jones has pitched for the last month or so you have to wonder why he wasn't sent down instead of Martinez. I think it's because he's one of the guys they're looking to deal. Marinez

Then someone should name Rick Dempsey manager. "I tell ya Stone Pony, in my seven decades in professional baseball, Rick Dempsey was the most entertaining performer during rain delays that I've ever seen, especially his outstanding Babe Ruth 'called shot' impression." As far as Ozzie goes, you would think three strikes and he's out for a managerial career. But one would have to doubt he's going to go back to managing right away (were he to get fired). He'd probably take at least a year off and work on TV until he said something that got him fired or in trouble with the FCC.

Rays upset about competitiveness lottery... ST. PETERSBURG — After losing out on a "trifling" extra draft pick in Major League Baseball's new competitive balance lottery supposedly designed to help teams such as the Rays, team president Matt Silverman said significant change is needed to the game's overall economic structure. "We've been involved in baseball for seven years, long enough to see two new basic agreements get ratified," Silverman said. "From Day 1, we have advocated for meaningful change, especially when it comes to addressing the dramatic imbalances in our game. Meaningful change has not occurred. It must go well beyond a trifling draft pick that a team in our position may or, as (Wednesday) showed, may not be fortunate enough to receive." The "competitive balance" lottery was added as part of the new labor agreement to provide an additional pick in next year's draft to small-market and low-revenue teams. But the Rays, despite being both, missed out, while less needy teams, such as the Tigers (and their $132 million payroll), Marlins and Orioles got extra picks. MLB identified its 10 smallest markets and lowest-revenue clubs and, with seven on both lists, set a 13-team field for the 12 additional picks, six after the first round and six after round two. MLB also added the Tigers — as a revenue sharing recipient not in the top 15 markets — to the field for the second-round picks. A team's chances were weighted in proportion to its 2011 wins total, so the Rays, who had the fourth most wins of the 14 teams, were at somewhat of a disadvantage. (As an added benefit, the picks can be traded.) Teams that won picks after round one were the Royals, Pirates, Diamondbacks, Orioles, Reds, and Marlins, and after round two the Padres, Indians, Rockies, A's, Brewers and Tigers. The Cardinals were also shut out. http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseball/ra...ructure/1241060

31. (NR) Chris Sale, SP, Chicago White Sox – Under Team Control through 2016. Dave Cameron's (Fangraphs.com) TRADE VALUE 31. Chris Sale Sale’s conversion to the rotation couldn’t have gone any better — that is, unless you take away that whole two week blip where the White Sox were moving him back to the bullpen because his arm hurt before changing their minds. That incident has to raise some concern, but it’s still too hard to ignore what Sale has done as a dominant starting pitcher this year. A 77 xFIP- as a starting pitcher in the AL shows just how good he has been even if you regress his BABIP and HR/FB rates, and the White Sox still have another year where they can pay him peanuts before arbitration even kicks in. The drastic loss in velocity and the whole starter-reliever-starter thing would probably serve as red flags for some team, especially given his slender frame, but he’s pitching at a level where you accept some risk in order to get this kind of performance, especially from a 23-year-old making the league minimum. 21. (NR) Gio Gonzalez, SP, Washington – Signed through 2018 for $65 million (yikes, the same amount we're paying Danks) I wasn’t a big fan of the Gio Gonzalez trade for the Nationals, but kudos to Mike Rizzo and his staff for anticipating the breakout pitching star of 2012 and getting him while they still could. Gio’s velocity is up and he’s throwing first pitch strikes, which has led to a huge spike in strikeout rate and a reduction in walks, and the overall package has seen Gio pitch like a legitimate ace. His command is still not fantastic, and previous history suggests that he may not be able to keep this up forever, but Gonzalez looks like a better pitcher than I gave him credit for over the winter. To boot, the contract Washington signed him to now looks like a pretty big steal, as he would have been in for a hefty raise via arbitration, but is now looking at a salary of just $6 million in 2013 with manageable raises for the following three seasons, and then two team options at the end of that. There’s room for Gonzalez to regress and still be worth the contract, and if he keeps pitching like he is right now, he’ll be a huge steal for years to come. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/2...de-value-25-21/ 41. S. Castro 31. Sale 21. Gio 20. Price 19. Bumgarner 18. Cabrera, Miguel 17. King Felix 16. Clayton Kershaw

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Jul 19, 2012 -> 01:55 PM) You may also want to consider working for cities. Many urban areas, especially those with some degree of budget instability often look for grant-writers to help supplement annual budget shortfalls and take necessary programs off the financial plate for a while. Except being a full-time grantwriter, I think I would rather be drawn-and-quartered.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jul 19, 2012 -> 01:08 PM) I respectfully disagree about development in August and September when the team is in a race. A starter, a reliever, and a platoon partner for LF, in that order. Then why are 90-95% of your posts about an issue you consider at best to be the 3rd highest priority? Have you made a single post about relievers?

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jul 19, 2012 -> 01:00 PM) Player development should never be a consideration in August and September when the team is in as close of a race as they are. In short, it's winning time and even a small upgrade in LF could win you a game and in a tight race that could be the difference. Yeah, the calculation will change even more towards the future/development when you're fighting for a wild card spot versus the division. It's not worth mortgaging your future for a 50/50 play-in game. But keep arguing the same same point. Player development is ALWAYS a consideration for a major league team. Why do you think they haven't sent down Santiago?

Scherzer just threw a 98 MPH fastball on pitch 100 to K Bourjos with a runner on 3rd and one out in the 7th. He's nasty today. Normally he gets K's with the change-up, but today his fastball is moving and blowing everyone on the Angels away. 8 swinging strikeouts, 1 looking through 7. 5-1 Tigers.